Please?
by Shankie
Summary: Arthur's been acting weird, and Alfred's worried with the sudden change of attitude. Just two days ago, they were best buddies, and the next thing he knows, Arthur freaks out when he sees him and tries to avoid him all the time. What could be the reason? AU. USUK Shounen-ai! (Might become Yaoi in the future) Rated T because of colorful language in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: amefeels, i labs amefeels**

Anyway, this idea is totally weird, I don't know it sprung out of my head while I was watching my brother watch Beauty and the Beast. Don't worry, it's not like Beauty and the Beast at all.

I'm not even sure if the first chapter is sure to have feels...

Anyway, in this world, they're not nations, okay~? nyehehehehehe

**My prologues are always short, so shut up. D: lolololol ididn'tmeanthatbutyesmyprologuesareshort**

* * *

Three blondes had gathered around on a corner, mumbling and laughing to themselves, however, the jokes were immediately cut off when one of them had finally tried to say it.

"Hey, Alfred, is it me or is Arthur acting weird?" Francis faced to Alfred who at first was silent, and then decided to speak too. "And I thought I was the only one who noticed." Alfred sighed as he sat down on the floor and leaned on the wall.

Alfred and Arthur were best friends, they had always been, since they were childhood friends. And since they were really close, they'd always tell everything to each other, from what happened to school to the color of their underwear. However, for some reason, ever since yesterday, Arthur had stopped mingling with Alfred, much less talk to him.

"I went near him once, and then he looked at me and looked completely horrified then ran away." Alfred scratched his nose, "Then there's this time too when I tried to talk to him and put a hand on his shoulder, and all he did was scream, told me to go away and then he ran without looking back."

Francis and Matthew looked at each other, and the nodded to themselves. "Hey, if you're up for it- well we're up for it- how about we all try to find out? Y'know very well that two heads are way better than a hollow one."

"I don't have a hollow head, fuck y'all." Alfred hissed and flipped them off. Although Alfred would hate to admit, he would definitely need help in finding out what on Earth was going through the brit's head, he wasn't getting anywhere him at all. Specially since he's the only one being avoided. Alfred sighed and looked away with a pout, "But yeah, I'd need some help..."

"Aww, don't be so tsun~ tsun~ now Alfred." Francis teased, only to earn a brutal force to his cheek, causing him to fall flat on the ground. Alfred then stood up and grabbed his bag from the table, then looked over his shoulder one last time, "We'll meet again tomorrow, I'm calling it a day..." Alfred then left, leaving Matthew to tend to Francis's wounds.

Alfred finally arrived in front of his apartment door and started rummaging his pockets for keys. While doing so, he looked to the left, where Arthur's room was. They decided to live next to each other, but for some reason, Alfred had the feeling that soon Arthur would move out and go to a much farther place, just like how he's acting so far away to him right now. Did Arthur just watch Frozen and decide that he had to do this?

If yes then that's a sick motherfucking prank.

Suddenly, although Alfred was definitely not expecting it, the door opened, revealing Arthur in a sleeveless black shirt, and loose blue shorts, drying his hair up with a towel. Alfred looked down his legs, and found him wearing slippers, and something he had never seen before. There were bandages on his right ankle. It's funny how he hadn't noticed this before, since he should always know what happens to Arthur.

Arthur's hands halted from drying up his hair, and slowly turned his head to Alfred who was just staring at him without any emotion. Immediately, he put on the horrified face and was ready to run back in to his apartment. But Alfred knew that he was going to do that, so he managed to catch Arthur's hand just before he ran back inside.

"Arthur! Wait!" Alfred then pulled him closer and then looked solemnly in to his eyes, "Can't we at least talk if there's something bothering you about me? You can't just suddenly freak out when you see me! We used to tell each other everything! Why aren't you telling me anything?!" Alfred tried his best not to raise his voice, but the way Arthur was acting had already enraged him, and he definitely won't let go of him until he says something.

"There's nothing wrong, n-nothing at all..." Arthur laughed nervously as he tried his best to pry off Alfred's hands. Alfred raised his eyebrow and tightened his grip on Arthur's arm. "You're not convincing at all." Alfred said with a deep voice, and then Arthur looked up to him with eyes that looked like it was about to cry.

Alfred did not understand why he was acting this way. Why was it that he was trying so hard to avoid him and always looked so much in pain when he's around him? Just two days ago, they were getting drunk on Bourbon with Antonio, and Arthur had been the only one to get drunk. He did try to strip several times, but Alfred was able to tie him down when he tried to. After a day of maxing out their credit cards, they all decided to go home, but then Arthur let go of Alfred and ran away... and then...

And then what?

Alfred realized he did not remember what happened that night, probably because he too was a tad too drunk. But nevertheless, Arthur could have told him what happened like they always had. He still found no reason why the man would be acting this way.

"Look, whatever happened, you could always tell me, I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Alfred put his hand on Arthur's shoulders, and looked at him with warm blue eyes. Arthur looked back and then turned away, "How are you so sure?" Arthur's voice was trembling and he stepped backwards.

"That's what best friends do, Artie." Alfred put on more force on his hands, to make sure that Arthur wouldn't run away again. Arthur's eyes widened for a minute, and then he looked back at Alfred with those sad eyes. Arthur then pushed Alfred away and turned his back on him, and opened the door to his room.

"Well then, I'm not a good friend." Arthur said with a tone of voice he had never used on Alfred before. "But... I'll think about... talking... to you about it." Arthur looked back once more before going back and shutting the door in front of Alfred's face.

Alfred didn't like how he still couldn't understand, but he decided to call it a day too, because a step forward to finding out what happened to Arthur was definitely something.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Horeh shet, I opened my mail and I got 37 freaking notifications, I have never had that much email from before, lolololol X3 **

**Oh and sorreh for grammeeeerrr (- :D) oh but i will try ta fix it bcuz im an awesome firipino weeeee**

**Enjoy ze chapter of awesomeness and do not forget to R&R!**

* * *

"How long 'til you tell 'im?" The woman with long black hair said as she put down a mug of beer in front of Arthur.

"What?" Arthur took the mug and shook it slightly. "I said, how long until you tell Al what really happened?" The woman rested her elbow down on the table, and stared at Arthur sheepishly. Arthur looked away for a moment before gulping down the beer. He didn't know when he was supposed to say it, or if he was really going to say it. He didn't want to hurt Alfred, much less break their friendship even more... But that's what he's doing right now... isn't he?

"So, you don't plan ta tell the guy at all eh? Don't ya just feel pity fer 'im? I'm pretty sure he won't hate you for whatever happened." The woman picked up a glass and started drying it with a towel. "I gotta say, if this is yer way of trying not ta hurt him, you're just dumb." Arthur does admit deep inside that if he just acted the way he did before, then maybe Alfred wouldn't even get worried or bother asking, or know.

Arthur looked back at her for a moment before deciding that he would not have any more alcoholic drinks. "Ruby, I've had enough for today, please do tell Francis not to come anymore." Arthur stood up from his seat and gathered his things and put them in his bag. "I don't have that guy's number." She picked up the notepad from the table, as if expecting Arthur to tell her. However, Arthur didn't feel like taking out his phone and saying it, so instead, he told Ruby to just tell him that he got very drunk and was taken home by Alfred.

"Are you not going to get drunk anymore just because of what happened, Arthur?"

Although Arthur did not want to admit it, that is sort of the reason. However, saying this out loud wasn't something he'd like to do. So he decided to ignore Ruby and head back home, and try to talk to Alfred again, after all, both of them are willing this time.

* * *

Alfred was playing video games and had gotten in to it already ever since he started playing 3 hours ago. He heard three knocks on his door, however, since he was so in to the game, he chose to ignore it. The knock eventually became louder, and louder, until it sounded like it was about to break.

"BLOODY HELL YOU STUPID GIT, OPEN THE MOTHERFUCKING DOOR YOU SON OF A BITCH. I'M TRYING TO TALK TO YOU HERE YOU FUCKING FUCKTARD."

Alfred recognized the voice, and the way how 7 curses were said in just 1 sentence, and immediately with excitement, dropped the controller and ran to the door, and opened it as fast as he could. He then saw a somewhat shocked Arthur, looking up at him with a cake box in hand. He never thought that Arthur was just going to pop out of nowhere, cussing loudly, holding a cake in hand, and actually willing to talk to him. Of course, this was supposed to be normal, but for the past 3 days, Arthur just kept running away from him.

"What're you doing just standing there?! Get of the way! I can't get in!" Arthur looked away with slightly pink cheeks as his grip on the cake tightened, Alfred didn't know how happy he was to know that his friend was back to normal, and immediately stepped to the side and let him in. "So... umm... what brings you here?" Alfred said as he sat down beside Arthur while scratching his head.

"I wanted to aplogize for... acting weird... and avoiding you... and not talking to you..." Arthur looked up from his lap and realized that Alfred was putting on a goofy smile because Arthur just kept going on and on. "S-SO I BOUGHT THIS CAKE! THAT'S ALL! It's not like I felt sorry for you and couldn't bear not talking to you! It's nothing like that okay!?" Arthur pushed the cake box to Alfred, which Alfred accepted and opened while nodding all the while.

Alfred took out his knife from the kitchen and started slicing the cake, after finishing, he paused and stared at the cake in silence. "Ah, right, plates... plates..." Alfred stood up from the ground and headed back to the kitchen to look for plates. Arthur snorted as he leaned backwards and stared at Alfred who was fidgeting.

"Sheesh, how long have you not had any visitors? You don't know where the plates are, probably even the forks and the spoons-" Arthur suddenly paused in sudden realization and turned back to Alfred with a slightly horrified look, "Hey... if you don't know where on Earth the utensils are, how do you eat or cook!?" Arthur had imagined a lot of things, but that's because that's what he does best.

Alfred turned around immediately, "No! No! Whatever you're thinking of, no!" He then brought out the utensils and started washing them on the sink, "I always eat out at McDonalds." He took the towel from a drawer and started drying the utensils while walking back to where Arthur was. Arthur sheepishly looked at him for a moment, and Alfred noticed how for some reason, they were very relieved and somewhat in pain and something told him that part of Arthur did not trust him. Not only that, for some reason, Arthur's eyes were in deep grief and sorrow, and somehow, his expression would show how pained he was.

_I wonder why? _Alfred thought to himself as he sat beside Arthur once again, placing down the plates and the utensils down on the table, and getting himself a slice. Alfred turned to Arthur to see if he was going to get a slice as well, but for some reason, Arthur was silent and stared at the cake in silence.

"Hey." He broke the silence, "I know it's kind of selfish from me... but..." Arthur scratched the back of his head, "Can you.. umm... get me a slice?"

Alfred felt his mouth gape open when Arthur had said that to him. Not because he had started to wonder if what happened last night was Arthur hitting his head somewhere and forgetting how to get a cake slice- well part of that worried him, but because Arthur would usually be all grouchy and grumpy about it and deny all reasoning as to why he wanted Alfred to get him one. But he told him what he wanted, actually very politely and kindly, without telling the reason in denial.

Alfred silently nodded and got him a cake slice, and placed it down on the plate and pushed the plate to where Arthur was. He stared back at Arthur, waiting for a response, however, it seemed as if he was in a haze for days. Alfred had worried once again that Arthur was once again very allergic to his presence. "Am I... supposed to get you a fork and a knife too?" Without any offense intended, Alfred worriedly looked back at Arthur.

Arthur looked as if he snapped back to reality and looked back at Alfred with wide eyes. "N-No! You dummy! I can get that myself!" He said and grabbed the fork and the knife and immediately shoved a piece of the cake in his mouth. Part of Alfred was relieved that somehow, Arthur is getting to act like himself again.

However, it still bugged him about what caused Arthur to be liked this, he's happy indeed that Arthur's no longer avoiding him and actually trying to communicate with him, but he's still not acting like himself and it still bothers him that he does not know why at all. Deciding to break the awkward silence with an even more awkward question, Alfred backed away a bit, and readied his arm in case an unwanted slap comes to him.

"Artie, is there... umm... rather... uh..." Alfred scratched his head at a loss for words, "Are you ever planning on telling me what happened that night?"

Suddenly, Arthur froze, as if he had just witnessed a murder right there and right then. Alfred had never seen Arthur so terrified, nor has he seen Arthur shaking this much, nor the amount of tears welling up his eyes.

* * *

_Wait!_

_No!_

_Hey don't- _

_NO! STOP!_

* * *

Arthur remembered those four phrases and immediately, tears started gushing out of his eyes.

Alfred was shocked at the sudden reaction, and immediately felt bad for reminding Arthur what had happened, but in all honesty, forgetting it would be much more easier if he didn't keep it to himself. Immediately, Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur, and rubbed the sobbing man's back in an attempt to comfort him. Arthur had hugged Alfred as well, as he rubbed his snot and tears on Alfred's shirt, repeating _I'm sorry _all the while.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry for whatever happened, come on, don't get so emotional!" Alfred tried to joke around, but he wasn't getting anywhere, so he decided that it was about time he shut up. Arthur started clawing at the back of his clothes, and Alfred resisted all temptation to hiss, and suddenly Arthur started crying louder. Alfred didn't know what on Earth he was supposed to do, it was the first time he had seen him in a total wreck.

"Please... please Alfred..." Arthur said in between his sobs, trying to breathe evenly, "Don't ever mention it again... and..."

"Please don't ever leave my side again..."

The last sentence struck Alfred hard.

Not once in his life had he tried to leave Arthur alone, for as long as he could remember. Just what happened that night? What was so terrifying that a man as strong as Arthur would simply cower and cry? What was it that Arthur couldn't tell him when they tell each other almost everything?

And why couldn't he remember?

After what seemed like several minutes to Alfred, Arthur's sobs had seemed to quiet down until the hands that were tightly wrapped around him fell over and his shoulders dropped, and then started snoring really loud that it was hard for Alfred not to burst out laughing and be greeted by a cranky brit. Alfred stood and carried Arthur on his back, and headed to his room, where in there was a single futon near a corner. He laid down Arthur on the futon and tucked him in the blanket.

He then proceeded to get another futon from the cabinet and placed it down beside Arthur, together with an extra pillow and blanket. Just before he settled down on the bed, he started asking himself why on Earth was he so worried and why he did so much for Arthur. Just then, a question struck him.

_Do I have feelings for Arthur?_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: INSPIRED BY AWESOME PHOTO 590512281014421/photos/a.590525321013117.1073741828.590512281014421/629560437109605/?type=1&theater (in fb gurl)**

**Anyways have some fuuun**

* * *

"So, why'd you call me?" Antonio, whom Alfred was having over in his house together with Francis, while Arthur was fast asleep, popped his head out from under Alfred's kotatsu. "Wait, before you answer that, where the hell did you get this thing!?" Antonio squirmed for a while and started mumbling something about it being hot or comfy.

"Kiku introduced me to it, said it'd be really great for Christmas or something." Alfred shrugged as he stood up and started making coffee, "Anyway, I called you here because I was about to ask you about feelings." Although Alfred wasn't facing Antonio, he was sure that from the corner of his eyes, a very wide smirk was plastered across Antonio and Francis's face.

"Someone's growing uuuup~" Suddenly, Francis appeared behind Alfred, and wrapped his arms around Alfred's chest, as he started caressing Alfred's chest, earning a yelp from Alfred and accidentally knocking the coffee to the sink. "FUCK OFF." Alfred grabbed Francis's head and bashed it on the sink, and was surprised when blood started spilling out of his head. Just before Alfred could react, he felt a hard smack on his bottom and turned to Antonio in irritation. "What? You're growing up. You should at least get used to getting your ass smacked." Alfred was pissed at the fact that it was so obvious that Antonio was trying his best not to burst out laughing and rolling on the floor.

"Can you no- OH SHIT!" Alfred felt a blow on his leg and he stumbled forward, landing on top of Antonio and he felt another body fall on top of him. He looked behind him and he saw a bloodied Francis looking at him with a very disturbing look. Alfred shrieked when Antonio had also started making a creepy face. Not wanting to do any more damage, Alfred tried his best to just convince them to get off him, however, instead, Antonio got on top of Alfred as well, quarreling with Francis about who should be Alfred's first.

None of them was going to be his first, I assure you that.

**CRASH**

All heads turned to the direction of the room, where a tea cup was on the ground, split in to pieces, and an extremely shocked Arthur standing and staring at them with extremely wide eyes. "What- I-... Huh... What... I wanna- I mean I don't wanna join- No just that why didn't you- what... Huh?" Arthur blurted out in a fast speed, getting even more flustered.

Alfred's eyes widened as he felt his heart skip a beat, specially since Arthur saw him being pinned down by two idiots.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alfred punched both of them in the gut, sending them flying to the other side of the room. Alfred stood up hastily and tried his best to explain to Arthur about what happened. Francis and Antonio, who had been fortunately thrown to a couch, sat up and looked at the two before looking at each other.

Antonio then looked back at them and started smirking, Francis looked back at them, realized what was going on, turned to Antonio to stop him upon realization, but he was too late when Antonio had jumped at Alfred once again. Francis freaked out and thought that Antonio was doing this on purpose because he knew what was going on, so he immediately screamed at Antonio saying "BEHIND YOU!"

However, Antonio misunderstood and thought Francis was telling him to go hit the person at his back too, and without warning, and to everyone else's surprise, his feet hit the ground and he jumped back and then his butt had hit Arthur's face. While the horrible display of Antonio happily butt-slapping Arthur who's falling backwards as his cup of tea fell down from his hand, you could hear Alfred making sounds of a whale and a mammoth mating.

"ANTONIO!" Francis shrieked and put his hands on his eyes when he saw Alfred glaring at Antonio so much and cracking up his knuckles while pushing up his bangs and running a hand through his hair. Francis turned around, not wanting to see what was happened, and started chanting Bloody Mary hoping that she would appear out of nowhere and get whacked instead of Antonio.

Unfortunately, to Alfred's delight, the poor Spaniard was beaten up black and blue, and the sound of a man screaming and thwacking sounds echoed through out the room.

After several excruciatingly slow minutes, Alfred had stopped and dropped Antonio, who was probably on the verge of death, next to Francis and sending him a warning glare, telling him not to fuck up just like Antonio. Francis understood that already though when he was catapulted in to the couch. Arthur went out of the bathroom after washing his face and looking at Antonio worriedly then shaking his head and sitting down on the couch as well. Alfred looked at Arthur uncomfortably and looked at Francis uncomfortably, good thing that Francis had an unexplainable great amount of knowledge when it comes to love, so he understood why Alfred was looking at him that way.

"So, that's the problem?" He said with a smile. Alfred nodded slightly, and Arthur looked at Francis in annoyance. "What? What's the problem?"

"You wanted to know if... you were _spellbound _by..." Francis chucked his head and Alfred nodded again.

"Huh." Arthur looked at the both of them, his irritation growing.

"Do you like being within-stone's-throw or closer to Voldemort?" Francis giggled at his reference and Alfred nodded while giving him the _iseewhatyoudidthere_ look.

Arthur felt pissed for not understanding because for the love of God, it involved Harry Potter!

"Do you go rubbernecking at your flame?" Francis winked and Alfred nodded with a smile. Arthur's hand slowly inched at the book on the table next to him, and Antonio was still trying to get his reasoning back.

"NO MORE NEED FOR QUESTIONS, I CAN SAY THAT YES, YES YOU ARE INDEED IN _A CORPS PERDU_ FOR THY." Francis back flipped from the couch while grabbing the sheets, landed behind the table and threw the sheet, covering everyone's sight of him, turned around and shoved the sheet away, revealing him standing with one foot on the table his hands in the air with sparkles everywhere and a rose in his mouth.

Arthur had gotten ultimately pissed and grabbed the book and threw it at Francis's face in a blink of an eye. It hit Francis's face right on, and really hard that the impact was heard by everyone. Francis fell on the ground and blood escaped through his nose.

"STOP HAVING A CONVERSATION IN FRONT OF ME WHICH I CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOU FUCKING FUCKTARDS. YOU LITTLE SHITS BETTER STOP MAKING ME FEEL FUCKING IDIOTIC AND OUT OF PLACE COZ I SWEAR UNDER MOTHERFUCKING PIXY SHITTY DUST YOU'RE ALL GONNA FUCKING SWALLOW THE SHITTY CRAP THE FUCKING CAT TAKES!"

Alfred, Antonio, and Francis were all speechless, specially when Arthur said this teary-eyed. Francis sat up from the table while wiping the blood off his nose, and then looked at Alfred while chucking his thumb at Arthur, mouthing something to Alfred. Alfred first was hesitant to do what Francis told him to do, but then he decided that if he were to calm Arthur down, he'd have to do something about it.

"Aww come on, I'm sorry Artie." Alfred looked at Arthur and walked to him, but Arthur crossed his arms and looked away with a scoff.

"Don't call me that you bloody git!" He said with a click of a tongue and closed his eyes. He then felt a pair of large arms envelope him, and a very warm body behind him, Arthur's eyes snapped open and he realized that Alfred was hugging him. Suddenly, he felt Alfred's breath on his nape, and he felt himself shudder, and with Alfred's deep and husky voice, he whispered in to Arthur's ear: "Forgive me... please..."

Arthur turned red from head to toe, and this reaction was seen by both Francis and Antonio, and both of them gasped. Upon hearing the loud gasps, Alfred's eyes snapped open, but before he could look at the brit, Arthur screamed and flailed his arms, accidentally knocking off Alfred's glasses, causing Alfred to close his eyes again, and he ran screaming out the door.

Alfred blinked and picked up his glasses and put it on and looked around, and then spotted Francis and Antonio hugging each other with sparkles in their eyes and crying tears of joy. "IT'S MUTUAL! AAA SIIII~! IT IS MUTUAL!" The two spoke in unison, held hands, and started dancing around Alfred's table. Alfred gawked at them, not understanding what on Earth they were talking about, suddenly, realization hit him hard.

"Hey... there's three of you, right?"

The two froze, and looked at each other in utter horror. Yes indeed, they forgot about that one friend of theirs.

"WE FORGOT ABOUT GILBERT."

And that's how Antonio and Francis ended up begging Alfred not to tell, and how Alfred realized he was going to use this opportunity to blackmail Antonio.

"Oh, sure, I won't tell Gil, except for one condition." Alfred deviously smirked at the two as he crossed his legs with class. "Shit." Antonio somehow knew what Alfred was about to say or do, and Francis looked at Antonio in confusion. I mean, come on, it's not like he's gonna ask them two to stand in the middle of a gay bar naked.

"You're going to tell me what happened that night."

Antonio's cheery aura dropped, and his face contorted in discomfort, and Alfred's bright blue eyes dimmed too. "Proves it, you know something." Alfred clicked his tongue and glared at Antonio, "Why didn't you tell me when I told you about it? You were the first person I asked about it, even before I told Francis and Matthew!" It was obvious that Alfred was enraged, his tone had an edge in it, and nerves were seen on his neck. Francis looked at Antonio in confusion, and decided not to say anything when Antonio looked at him and shook his head.

"I couldn't. Arthur told me not to. I'm sorry Alfred... It's-"

Alfred slammed his hand on the table in front of him, and the mug on the table jumped slightly, but the coffee in it spilled. "It's what, Antonio!? It's what?!"

Antonio looked at him for a moment, and with hesitation, he looked at his eyes. "It's something that does not hurt Arthur the most."

"What...?" Alfred was confused, since if it wasn't something that hurt Arthur so much, why would he burden all the pain? "Get straight to the point." Alfred said, pissed at almost everything and everyone since they kept beating around the bush.

"It's something you can't remember and wouldn't want to remember, it'll hurt you, so much, you're the one who's going to feel the most pain. In both ways."

Alfred's eyes widened, and even Francis was shocked, because as far as everyone knew, Alfred was far too dense to actually feel pain go through his thick skull. _Both ways? Something that would hurt me...? What? _Alfred wanted to ask again, but then he noticed that even Antonio was starting to get uncomfortable that tears were starting to form in his eyes. Alfred realized it was his fault and felt bad so he turned his head away.

"I'm sorry, I'm not gonna ask anymore. I won't tell Gil either. I'll go call Lovino." Alfred picked up his phone and started looking for Lovino's number in his contacts.

"I'm sorry Alfred... I just can't..." Antonio covered his face and he started crying as well, Francis patted his back and looked at him worriedly.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: woot wooooot wooot i don't think this is gonna last 6 or 7 chapters...**

**ooc ahead**

**and reminders, zis is an au so whatever happens here, if ever gilbert suddenly decides to marry elizabeth should be fine**

**lel no it won't but you get my point, right?**

**Idk if I'm going to put any sex scenes here but just in case, I'm changin' et to M~3 **

* * *

"Alfred don't-"

The bottle was smashed on the table, and it broke, and a lot of water spilled from it and covered the table with the smell of rotting fruit.

"-Argh, never mind. Look this is a bad idea." Francis looked over to Alfred who was already flushed, leaning on the-too many to count-bottles he had already gulped down, and was glaring at him quite scarily. "I'm sure even Arthur would disagree with this..."

"Fuck me then..." Alfred hiccuped and grabbed another bottle from the side and shoved it up his mouth. Francis happily looked at Alfred with a wide smile, "Was that an invitation?" Alfred looked over at Francis with pure irritation written all over his face. "Who'd wanna get taken by a fuckin' hairy octopus..."

Francis gasped, "MY HAIR IS NOT AN OCTOPUS!"

Francis then noticed how much Alfred's eyes were shining against the light, and realized that Alfred was actually trying his best not to break in to tears. The bottom of his eyes were slightly reddish, and he started sniffing every now and then. "Hey, if you're so bothered with what happened awhile ago, why don't you just forget about it and stop getting yourself drunk... I don't even know what you're like when you're drunk."

"Your accent sucks."

"Shut up."

Francis didn't think of Alfred of someone he liked- proof that when his sudden want to fuck with him earlier was purely because he was a pervert- rather someone like a very close brother of his who's incredibly stupid and adorable at times- and honestly, someone who always needs advice.

He looked over Alfred worriedly, feeling a bit sorry for him, and decided that since Alfred was probably drunk anyway, telling him anything would be fine. "Come on, tell me what's wrong, big brother will listen." Francis looked at Alfred for a moment, and when he realized that Alfred wasn't hostile, he smiled in victory.

"Why do I always end up hurting people?"

Francis opened his mouth to say something, but found himself unable to. That's not the first time Alfred has asked him this after all, and he's not the only person he says this to. He has asked Matthew once, and as well as Kiku, a lot, actually. Alfred's been aware that what he does is hurt people, but what he's not aware of is how to stop it. It was sort of inevitable from the start. A man born with so much strength, yet someone who was not born with love.

Francis sighed and picked up a table cloth from the side and started drying up his table. "You know, sometimes you hurt yourself too, I think that's what you're supposed to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Alfred raised his head slightly, his face getting more and more flushed by the minute. He reached out for another bottle, but the bottle was immediately snatched away by Francis.

"I'm usually hated by a lot, because I'm perverted. But that's it, you shouldn't let that affect you- Well maybe sometimes, you have to." Francis stood up and started cleaning up the mess Alfred made. "All you have to do is put yourself in someone else's shoes." It was not usual for Francis to be kind, but everyone has a soft spot deep inside them that would show up when triggered. Even the strongest, the meanest, and the most evil man on earth has a kind, and soft side in him, no matter how little.

"If you think it's bothering them a little too much, why don't you try to stop for a moment? And if they're ready to say it, then that's the time you go and listen. You don't listen to someone when they're not even saying anything."

Francis secretly searches the internet for inspirational and encouraging stuff.

Alfred silently nodded and wiped away his tears. He felt sort of better now and was ready to go back in his room in any moment... but needed a little help at the moment. "Sorry... Francis... can you umm..." Alfred scratched his head, "Help me up to my room?"

Francis nodded with a smile and went over to Alfred, just when he was about to lift him from the ground, the american glared at him, "Don't you dare try to do anything funny." Francis sighed and rolled his eyes, "Come on, I'm not the type to do something to someone who's going through something!"

'_Goddamnit, he saw through it._' Francis sighed.

Alfred tried his best not to put all his weight on Francis, knowing that he was far too heavy for the poor guy, which made it harder for both of them to advance. It took them almost 30 minutes to get out of Francis's room and head back to Alfred's room, which is funny because Alfred's room is just two doors away from Francis's. "I can take it from here... I think." Alfred, just a step away from the door of his room, tried to separate himself from Francis, but tripped and landed flat on the floor.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, ULL BLT MUH TUNG!" Alfred cried as he tried to stand up from the floor, but failed again.

"This is what you get for getting drunk, asswipe." Francis sighed and tried to pull him up, but Alfred was too heavy for him, and after a minute of trying, he fell on his knees and started panting. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EAT EVERYDAY!? DO YOU LIKE, MARCH IN TO VIKINGS AND JUST EAT EVERYTHING THERE!?" He was honestly getting pissed because if anyone would see them right now, there's a 90% chance that the guy would not help them but just take a picture of them and pass by.

"WLL ALM THORI!"

"YOU SOUND IDIOTIC WITH YOUR TONGUE OUT, STOP."

While the two of them were quarreling, none of them noticed the icy aura around them. When they heard the footsteps, both stopped and turned to the direction of the sound, and was surprised to see someone who they did not expect to return at all.

It was Ivan Braginsky, one of the most mysterious residents of this apartment. Alfred stopped immediately and looked at Ivan in horror, at a loss for words to say anything.

"Well hello there... I thought you were dead, Alfred." Ivan smiled back at Alfred, which sent shivers to his spine. Alfred did not like Ivan at all, specially after his past with him, something he honestly does not want to remember. Ivan was some sick guy, someone who definitely should be locked up in a mental assylum. Alfred tried to stand up, but found his legs frozen in fear.

"How about I help you up?" Ivan was about to lean toward him and drag him somewhere, but upon realization that a certain someone was there, he immediately stopped and turned to the opposite side. "Well maybe, I'll do that some other time." Ivan chuckled and slowly walked away from the two blondes, and as soon as his figure disappeared from the two's sight, Francis immediately made way to Alfred.

"I don't think it's safe for you to be in your room. You should go to Arthur's room." Francis knew that he was not going to be safe in his own room either, because Francis had a poor self control and would do anyone despite the gender.

Alfred didn't respond, and his eyes were glued to the ground, probably because he was drunk. Francis looked worriedly at him and put a hand on his back, and then felt how fast and how hard Alfred's heart was beating. "Should I go get him?"

Alfred nodded silently and tried to breathe and was sweating even more. Francis knew what happened between him and Ivan, so he immediately ran toward Arthur's room. He knocked as fast as he could, ignoring how loud it was. The door slammed open, revealing an angry brit, who's anger rose even more upon laying eyes on Francis.

"What the hell!? Why do you have to knock so hard?!"

"That doesn't matter!" Francis raised his voice and then pointed to Alfred, "Help me with him and call Antonio and... whoever you can call!"

* * *

"Alfred, you okay?" Arthur sat down on his bed, where Alfred was laying down on, and handed him a glass of water. Alfred was not showing any signs of calming down at all, his breaths were very ragged and he continued shaking and sweating. Arthur worriedly put the glass of water in Alfred's hand, which Alfred tried his best to drink without choking.

Francis sat down on a chair at the side, continuously tapping on his phone, cussing every now and then. Suddenly the doors opened and Antonio, Kiku, Matthew, Lovino, and Ludwig went in. (Imagine that this place is actually really big) "Where's Feliciano?" Francis looked over at Ludwig who also went to where Francis was. "He was fast asleep, didn't want to wake him up."

"What happened?" Antonio looked at Arthur, afraid that Arthur may have said something to Alfred by accident. "Francis's going to explain, I don't know either. While I was about to take a bath, Francis just suddenly burst in to my room with him."

Antonio sighed in relief and sat beside Francis. The others sat on the ground.

Francis ran a hand through his hair and looked at Alfred who had an arm over his eyes. "Ivan's back, I don't know when or how, he met with Alfred just now. I don't know, I don't think he's going to be safe for now."

They all fell silent and exchanged worried looks with each other. Arthur started caressing Alfred's hair and wiping his face with a towel, then he looked over at Antonio. Antonio shrugged and looked away. "Seems he's still not over with his PTSD?" Matthew pulled out some medicine from his bag and handed it over to Arthur, "Here, I kept it from before."

Kiku and Ludwig exchanged looks for a moment, then they looked back at Alfred. Right now, the Alfred they were seeing was not the usual loud and energetic one. He was lying down on the bed, sweating, trembling, panting, and looking incredibly scared. If they didn't know what's happening or what's causing it, they seriously won't be able to help Alfred.

"Hey, don't you think you guys should start explaining something right now?" Lovino looked at Antonio and Arthur, and everyone silently turned their heads to the two as well. Arthur shook his head and looked away, "I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to tell anyone."

"Then, what about what happened with Ivan and Alfred?"

"That, I can tell." Arthur sighed upon recalling what happened between the two.

* * *

**WARNING: **If you do not like gore in any way, or if you are secretly homophobic, please do not continue reading and skip til the end of flashback 3. lel the second warning was not necessary i think

SEXUAL ASSAULT *screams*

i sorry dis is how i thought the story shud go

* * *

_"I repeat, a boy, about 15 years of age, named Alfred F. Jones has gone missing for the past 48 hours. If seen, please report immediately to the police station."_

_Arthur sighed as he looked back and forth the phone and TV, Alfred's suddenly gone missing, and none of them really knows who on Earth would take him or why the hell they'd want him or need him. He was pretty sure that Alfred was definitely not from a wonderful and rich family, nor is he from a prestigious school. _

_"I'm telling you! It's that bastardo! Ivan Braginsky!" Lovino shouted as he pushed away Feliciano, marching in to where Arthur was residing. "You idiota, you think that man would do anything to him? He's a freakin' nut case, Dios mio!" _

_Antonio put his hands on Lovino's shoulders and attempted to calm him down, but only made it worse. The Italian started cussing even louder, in different languages this time. _

_Just then, the phone rang, and Francis immediately picked it up. All heads turned to him with worry. Francis pressed a button on the phone, and then all they could hear was the sound of the shuffling of papers. _

_"This is Jefe Von, I'm just here to tell you the progress of the investigation." _

_"Go on." Arthur said calmly. _

_"A metal pipe was found in his apartment _(Alfred did not live next to Arthur before) _and it had traces of blood on it, which belonged to... well erm, Alfred F. Jones. If there's anyone you think may be the cause of this please let us kn-" _

_"IT WAS THAT FUCKING IVAN BRAGINSKY!" Lovino roared once again and pushed Antonio away, "He threatened Alfred! He said he would have to costringere him or something! That man is going to kill him if you don't find him first!" _

_"-Okay, calm down please sir. We will try our best to find him." _

_After several hours of sitting around and asking around the apartment, the door to where they all were burst open, revealing Alfred, almost stripped off all of his clothes, his back full of wounds, some still fresh, and blood dripped from his bottom. Those were not his only wounds, and he looked as if he was about to break. He fell flat on the ground, crying and still screaming for help. Arthur immediately ran to him and called the ambulance. _

* * *

"The bastard whipped his back, strangled him, hit his legs and arms continuously with a rod or something, and worst of all raped him." Arthur sighed and looked away, recalling how much Alfred did not stop crying, screaming, and thrashing around after that event.

"Hey." Francis looked at Alfred and frowned for a moment, before looking at Arthur and Antonio without any emotion. "Tell me, was Ivan Braginsky in anyway involved in what happened that night?"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **shiet, i got drunk last night and i kinda posted a half-assed chapter

nuuu i make it up to u i swear nuuu

* * *

"Yes. Yes he was, and that's the end of our discussion of what happened that night." Arthur stood up and headed for the kitchen, but was stopped by Francis. Francis grabbed him by his hand and pulled him back inside, "No, we will not end the discussion of what happened that night! You're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting us, and you're hurting Alfred too!"

Arthur turned to Francis with a glare and pushed him away, "What do you know!? I'm trying to protect him! If he knew about this, it would hurt him too!"

"I don't think what you're doing is right too, Arthur-san." Kiku said.

"Neither do I, in all honesty, I don't think you're fuckin' helpin' the guy, both of you." Lovino glared, but mostly at Antonio.

"Do you know what?" Francis was no longer calm, his voice had a certain edge on it, "He wouldn't have met with Ivan if you just told him earlier!"

"What... what do you mean?"

"Yes that's right, he crashed at my place and started drinking everything I was saving up for the Christmas Party." Francis scowled and scoffed, "He got so drunk, and started asking me why he kept hurting people, why he kept hurting- YOU! You and Antonio!" He pointed at Antonio, "He even cried! He's not as dense as you think, he's got feelings! Feelings like every other human on this universe, and you? What you're doing is trashing his feelings!"

The whole room fell silent and the temperature dropped, and all of them looked at Francis in understanding, and Arthur, Antonio, and Alfred with pity. Suddenly, Alfred coughed and tried to lift himself from his bed, "No... France... it's okay..."

"It's not okay, okay!? You're not as loud and as obnoxious as everybody thinks, you're actually adorable at times, and what you're doing to yourself, and what they're doing to you, is not right! Your health is being damaged here, and I swear, you've had quite enough! You're going to have to find out the truth, or stop hurting yourself!"

Matthew stood up and put his hands on Francis's shoulder and told him to calm down, he then faced Arthur and told him to sit down for a while or chill the fuck out. He also pushed Alfred back down on the bed and told him to stay there and don't move, then went to get a bucket of ice water and a towel.

Kiku sat beside Arthur and started talking to him, all the while rubbing his back. Lovino was trying his best to tell both Arthur and Antonio, calmly, not to fuc- not to fool around anymore. Ludwig and Francis both sat down on Alfred's bed, asking him if he was okay, or if he was ready for what he was going to say.

Matthew went back in and dipped the towel in the water, put the towel back on top of his forehead, and ignored Alfred's jump when the ice cold water made contact with his skin. "I'm relieved you're no longer breathing like you ran a marathon while having an asthma attack and suddenly jumping in to a pool to swim." Matthew smiled at Alfred who tried his best to smile back.

"I'll tell you tomorrow... but... we have to move somewhere else, somewhere where... Ivan isn't around."

What Arthur said caught the attention of everybody, why was it so important not to say it when he's not around? Was it because he was probably going to jump on Alfred again and beat him up with his "magic stick"?

However, they knew that Arthur was tired too, and decided to give him a rest. "Tomorrow, we're all movin' got that?"

"Hey... I wanna crash at the- Oh shit." Antonio's eyes widened and he immediately started throwing things out of his bag. "You meant we're crashing the bar right?" Kiku wondered if Antonio said that because mentioning the bar would mean mentioning what happened that night or something.

"Ow- O- H-HEY!" Francis hit Antonio's head, "YOU'RE HITTING ME WITH YOUR STUFF! What are you looking for anyway?!" Antonio looked at Francis, at first with a sort of angry face, then suddenly with a teary-eyed one. Antonio looked out for a moment, and started making hand signals that didn't make sense to Francis. Then Antonio suddenly started imitating a duck, which got Francis even more confused, after all, the one who reminded him of a duck the most was Gilb-.

"GILBERT BEILSHIIIIIIIIIT!" Francis screamed.

"Let's just get out of here okay?! To the bar, and we all chill." Antonio suddenly glared at Ludwig, "And no one's calling Gilbert."

"Will Alfred-san be okay?" Kiku looked over to Alfred, and Alfred just smiled back at him and mouthed 'I'll be okay.'

Arthur suddenly felt something rush over his blood and decided to stay, "N-no, maybe I should stay with-"

"No, it's okay. I need some time alone too." Alfred smiled once again and Arthur nodded and went outside with everyone.

It was silent, silent enough to hear your own breathing and your heart beating. Alfred uncomfortably shifted his body under the sheets, trying to even his breathing all the while. He looked back behind the window, where the balcony was, and after a while, he decided to sit up.

"What do you want...?" He said quietly and weakly, his voice quite raspy. Suddenly, the window opened, and a shadow fell in the room, and the man in white, Ivan Braginsky, entered with a smile. "Why, I thought I'd have to wait til you fell asleep before I hit your head open with a pipe." Ivan laughed as he shut the window from behind him and patted the pipe on his hand happily.

"Ooh, so scary." Ivan broke out laughing while Alfred just continued glaring at him. "Why'd you shoo your friends away? You thought you could handle me alone? Huh? That's admirable of you. How you always think you're the hero." Ivan leaned on his pipe and picked up a photograph near the table.

"I just didn't want them to get hurt." Alfred looked away.

"Get hurt?" Ivan giggled, "How heroic, so Arthur hasn't told you yet after all." Ivan put down the photograph and sat down on Alfred's bed, and to his surprise, Alfred had not moved at all, and he did not look like he was panicking or ready to move away at all. Alfred wanted to settle this calmly, and as much as possible, without getting any blood on that pipe. "He doesn't want to tell me, so I don't need to know." Rather, he did not want to hear it from Ivan, who knows if Ivan tells him what happened that night and inserts lies in it?

"You're no fun today. You're pissing me off." Ivan said calmly, but his eyes had snapped open, the whites in it getting redder and redder by the moment. His bloodshot eyes slowly moved to Alfred's blue ones, and his hand made way to the pipe leaning on the wall. "Come on, let's settle this already once and for all, Alfred. I've been dying to kill you..." Ivan's breath starts hitching, and a weird laugh escaped from him, causing shivers to run down Alfred's spine.

"Was it not enough that you've roughed me up once?" Alfred was starting to loose his cool, "Was it not enough that you killed my parents?"

"Oh, you're starting to get heated up. Come on Alfred, let's finish this once and for all." Ivan was starting to get impatient, and the grip on his pipe has started to harden.

"I don't want to fi-"

Without even being able to finish his sentence, Ivan lost his temper and immediately jumped on Alfred. Alfred had gotten out of bed in time before the pipe had hit his head, whacking him unconscious once again. Because of Alfred evading Ivan's attack, Ivan ended up hitting his pillow, breaking it and causing the cotton to fly out. "Look, Ivan! We don't have to do this!"

"No, no. NO! YOU **HAVE TO DIE!**"

Alfred flinched, for it was the first time Ivan has ever raised his voice, and sounding quite at a loss. As if he was panicking or something. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something clank near him, and to his surprise, Ivan was charging at him with full speed. He immediately tried to dash for the window, but he lost his balance while doing so. He was only able to evade Ivan's attack partly, earning himself a bloodied head.

"Please, just erase yourself from this world... You don't have to live... You destroyed my life... You destroyed everything... You... you..." Suddenly, Ivan burst out laughing as tears ran down his face. He fell on his knees and continued laughing psychotically, looking as if he had lost his mind. Alfred was afraid to approach him or even try talking to him, because it looked as if any sound would break him completely.

Realizing that it was an opportunity to just jump off the window and hope that he lands on something soft, Alfred immediately ran, but was stopped when Ivan threw his pipe at him. He ducked immediately and rolled to the side, and felt his head ringing the alarms when he saw the pipe stuck on the wall. '_Fuck, imagine if that hit me. I'd be a fat stuck on a barbecue stick! _' Alfred tried to stand up, but felt dizzy due to the loss of blood, so he staggered and fell back on the ground.

He heard the pipe come off the wall and he shot his head behind him, and felt his skin jump when he saw Ivan standing there, with a broken smile and completely psychotic eyes. Alfred tried to stand up in time, but he was whacked out of breath on the back. He fell back down, trying to catch his breath, but then Ivan grabbed him by his hair and pulled him closer. "You can't escape now, Jones." Ivan started laughing, but this time, it sounded a lot like he was sobbing aloud.

Before Ivan could hit the lights off of him, he grabbed the pipe while he was off guard, and hit Ivan's face with it as hard as he could. The impact on Ivan's face was so hard that the sound echoed in the room. Ivan let go off Alfred and clutched his face, and Alfred immediately grabbed his coat and started running for his life. In the midst of running away, before he exited the room, he heard Ivan cry out, not crazily, not sadly, but with anger:

**"_UBEY SEBYA_! YOU BLOODIED TRAITOR! _TY UBIL YEKATERINA_!" **

**"_YA OTOMSHCHU ZA YEKATERINA_!" **

After that, he certainly heard someone crying, but he couldn't go back in there, or else that would be the end of him.

Out of luck, Arthur and company happened to be waiting for the broken elevator to come up instead of taking the stairs, all the while quarreling among each other, thus not noticing Alfred. Alfred felt blood drip down his forehead and to his mouth, and his vision had started to blur as well. Halfway to them, he fell on his knees, not being able to walk straight anymore. So he shouted as loud as he can, hoping that he would catch their attention.

Arthur was the first one to turn, and shrieked in horror in seeing Alfred, earning everyone's attention. "My God! Alfred!" Arthur ran to him immediately and hugged him, rubbing his back and telling him not to fall asleep at any cost. "What happened to you!? Who did this to you!?" Francis asked as he too sat beside Alfred, slapping his cheeks just to make sure he doesn't fall asleep.

"Nnh... Ivan... was there..." Alfred was not able to continue his sentence, as he felt everything become slightly dimmer. He was pretty sure that his fight with Ivan was very short, then why is he running out of blood this fast? That or he probably must have not taken note of time.

"Quick call an ambulance!" Ludwig looked at Lovino and Antonio who immediately ran for the stairs.

"Should we move him?" Kiku asked, but Ludwig just shrugged.

"Ivan? Ivan was there!? Shit! I forgot about him!" Arthur hugged Alfred tighter, and closer to his chest, that's when Alfred heard the sound of Arthur's heartbeat. It was so loud and fast, and no matter how calm his face was at the moment, his heartbeat was raging. "I'm going to be fine." Alfred smiled and tried to sit up, "We just got to get out of here." The sound of Arthur's heartbeat became fainter, and it was a sign that he had probably calmed down.

"What about your stuff?" Francis asked.

"We don't have time to get it, he's inside my room." Alfred shrugged.

"Then let's get moving already then." Ludwig headed to them, knowing that none of them could carry Alfred anyway.

And just when Alfred thought he was so lucky, an enraged and deep voice came bursting out with the flying door.

"**ALFRED!**" he panted, "**YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD FUCKING ESCAPE?!**"

"**YA SOBIRAYUS' UBIT' TEBYA!**"


End file.
